Almost three years after the start of the pandemic, a shortage of registered nurses continues to eclipse the supply of qualified professionals.
“The US shortage of registered nurses has been called a crisis. Burnout, staff turnover, a growing and aging baby-boomer population, and a lack of educators have contributed to high demand and undersupply, a longstanding problem aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a new report from ADP Research Institute.
Employment for registered nurses increased 13% over the past five years, which ADPRI noted is more than triple the rate of national employment growth. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 124,690 RNs are employed in skilled nursing facilities. The National Center for Assisted Living says that 15% of the 1.46 million nursing employees in assisted living communities are RNs.
Overall, according to ADPRI data, “demand for nurses has far outstripped supply since 2021.”
A shift has occurred in how long nurses are content to stay on the job, the report noted. As demand for RNs began to grow back in 2019, time on the job began to decline.
“The average tenure for registered nurses is now five years, compared to 5.7 years for US workers overall,” the authors said.
Organizations are likely to see young nurses quit during their first year of employment. According to the American Nurses Association, approximately 18% of newly licensed RNs quit the profession within the year.
“Common causes for leaving include stressful working conditions, lack of leadership and supervision and understaffed facilities. Those factors get amplified for nurses still familiarizing themselves with the demands of the job,” the ANA said.
Because demand is greater than supply, ADPRI speculates that demand that outpaces supply could be a prime reason for reduced tenure for registered nurses. At the same time, the report did not rule out working conditions as a reason for nurses to head for the door. The ANA noted that stressful working conditions, feeling undervalued and incidents of bullying also are culprits in nursing turnover.
